Baseball Talk Philadelphia

September 20, 2014

Nice move: Ryne Sandberg has looked a lot like a robot this season. Everything about him, from his cliché, seemingly auto-prepared answers, to his actions in the dugout and even being around him he just seems very robotic. Well on Tuesday, he made a nice gesture that showed a more human side of him, and proof that he does not go with just lefty-righty platoon splits or go with the numbers on who is best for the lineup. With the team making a trip to Petco Park in San Diego, where a giant Tony Gwynn statue looms, Sandberg gave little-used reserve outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. a chance to start in his hometown. It’s been a very difficult season for Gwynn, not just off the field with his father passing. On the field, he’s hit only .157 heading into the series. Obviously, he was not in the lineup for his bat, so with the season lost, it was a nice move by Sandberg to let Gwynn get a chance to play in his old backyard, in the city where he used to shag fly balls in batting practice. He even had a chance to text him mother saying, “I’m in the lineup!” for her to come watch.

Player’s manager?: The Jonathan Papelbon situation was a difficult one for everyone involved. He put his own manager, Ryne Sandberg, in a very difficult position, having to get involved in the spat between his ace closer and “Cowboy” Joe West. Essentially, it came down to Sandberg having to say Papelbon is not lying when he said he made “an adjustment”, something that doesn’t seem very truthful. Ultimately, Sandberg didn’t really back his player, nor did the organization. It’s a situation where it is tough to predict what anyone would do, as it ultimately comes down to defending a guy many assume to just be lying. While it probably would not hurt Sandberg to blindly back his player saying, “He absolutely did not do that to the fans, it was an adjustment,” it still is an understandably difficult spot for a manager to be in, to back a liar. Instead of taking a real stand and attempting to win the clubhouse by backing the guy (while also risking look like a blind buffoon), Sandberg did not make any judgment.

Play the unknowns: Sandberg recently has eased up on playing the veterans in whom he knows what he has, including Marlon Byrd, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley—even Carlos Ruiz to a smaller degree. Some would say that he waited too soon to do that, as it would not hurt to take a look at Makiel Franco, Darin Ruf or either Cesar Hernandez or Freddy Galvis. Ruf has looked like he still has a place on a major league roster as a reserve player, and Franco looks like a rookie. So there would be no harm in getting him more experience and getting him more comfortable in a major league uniform.

September 05, 2014

Perfectly done: I recently heard Jim Rome blast the Phillies’ no-hitter, basically saying it was not a true no-no because the Phillies decided to use multiple pitchers in the combined effort. This would imply that Ryne Sandberg was in the wrong for not having starter Cole Hamels make the complete game effort. To that, I say you cannot argue with Ryno’s results. Every decision in that game was perfect. I was nervous when he did not allow Jake Diekman to stay in and face the two left-handed hitters coming up in the eighth inning, but kudos to him in trusting his young stud, Ken Giles. The rookie came in and struck out all three batters he faced. To seal the deal, the Phills gave Jonathan Papelbon the option of pitching the ninth, and the ace closer accepted the challenge, and shut the door.

Lost in Sandberg’s decisions to handle the bullpen that way was his decision to upgrade the right side of the infield defensively. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley have long anchored that department of the field in any big Phillies game since 2006, but they’ve played in their share of no-hitters, thanks to Roy Halladay (and Kevin Millwood for Utley), so that probably made the decision to lift them for the not-so-experienced Freddy Galvis and Darin Ruf. As it would happen, the final out was recorded by Ruf, and no Phillie fan can say with any type of confidence that any play to first base “Ryan Howard would have surely handled that”. Overall, it was a perfect game from the skipper.

Ryan Howard/Dom Brown: Matt Gelb in an article this week insinuated that it is not up to the manager on who is in the lineup every day. Dom Brown echoed those comments when saying that Ryno is “Just the manager, you know?”. Well, no, I don’t know what that even means, but Brown has never struck me as a genius. The fact that a manager would sign up for being a “yes man” and not have any control on his team is absolutely ridiculous. Is Sandberg that much of a shill that he would sit there and let Ruben Amaro Jr., who showed his ability to evaluate players in acting like Dom Brown is the second coming of Barry Bonds, run his team? How would the players ever respect that? If that is the case, and I don’t think it is, Sandberg needs to take pride in his job and take a stand and voice what he thinks is best for the team. What’s lost in all this though is that playing Grady Sizemore and Darin Ruf over Dom Brown has proven to be a wise decision. This is one of those scenarios that if it really were the case, we will hear about it at least once more before the end of the season.

Playing Spoiler: Plenty of teams, if in the position the Phillies are in, would roll over and just go through the motions until the season officially ends. Last season, in the final few weeks, the Phillies themselves did this under Ryne Sandberg. But lately, the team, well out of playoff contention, has been playing hard and much better baseball. In fact, they had their first winning month since September 2012. That’s a credit to the players, but also Ryne Sandberg. Ryno has kept the “win every game” approach and the players have followed his lead. While they are still evaluating certain positions, the manager is doing everything he can to win ballgames, and it is working. The Phills are in your traditional "spoiler" role, having recently taken series from contending teams such as the Cardinals, Mariners, Nationals, and Braves. They will have a chance to keep playing that role with upcoming series against Washington, Pittsburgh, Miami and Oakland.

August 29, 2014

It’s been a rough month for Ryne Sandberg. Not only is he struggling to get his team out of the basement of the National League East, seemingly being a terrible motivator. Now, for Ryno, it’s one thing to be overmatched on the field in strategy in his first season. We’ve talked at length about his bizarre moves and ideas, like expecting Kyle Kendrick to execute a run-scoring play at the plate, or playing Dom Brown over two much better players. But things have taken a much different twist and have really escalated, as the players have indicated a clear lack of respect for their manager, something that never surfaced for any prolonged period under Charlie Manuel.

Each case is different, so let’s go player-by-player:

Ryan Howard: Howard was benched for three days in late July, because the manager said he wanted to see Darin Ruf—a player he clearly wants nothing to do with, playing him over the worst player in the big leagues. But then Sandberg passive aggressively ripped Howard, implying that he’s not his type of ball player, saying before benching him, "I do think it's important to have players who fit my type of players," Sandberg said July 18. "That's important going forward. I think getting younger will be a step going forward."

He elaborated on what that type of player is:

"An energy player," he said. "Versatile player. A baseball player. Does the little things. A guy that knows the game and plays the game the right away."

Howard seemed to have an issue when asked by reporters about the situation, saying, “Talk to the manager.”

Clearly, Sandberg was disrespectful to one of the most valuable Phillies in franchise history, implying he’s not a player with which you can win.

Kyle Kendrick/(A.J. Burnett): This one is more about Kyle Kendrick, but I’m going to lump A.J. Burnett in here as well. Both players clearly were upset with being pulled from games two weeks ago, though Kendrick was more demonstrative. Walking off the mound about to be yanked, he did not wait for Sandberg to get there, instead handing the ball off while passing by him.

I’m not going to fault Kendrick for being upset. I’m sure in some “unwritten rule books”, Kendrick did not follow protocol. But think about what happened earlier: Howard botched an infield pop-up, Dom Brown failed to catch a routine fly (can you believe it?), and Marlon Byrd played a double into a triple. He had no support whatsoever, and I’d venture to bet he was more upset with the way the game unfolded in the field behind him, not necessarily at Sandberg for pulling him from the game. A.J. Burnett was likely upset at himself for allowing a 2-0 game to turn to 5-0, but he slammed the ball into Sandberg’s hands.

This is a mixed bag here. While they were not directly upset with Sandberg (a reasonable assumption), the fact of the matter is they have no hesitation in showing up their manager.

Dom Brown: This one was flat out ridiculous. In a week, a season, and a career of gaffes and horrendous play, Dom Brown seemed to half-heartedly pursue a fly ball, then took his sweet time throwing to third base, only to throw the ball away. After the game, Brown indicated that it’s because Sandberg is not playing him enough is the reason why he can’t catch a fly ball. News flash Brown: you were not a gold-glover even before you lost your playing time—something Ryno pointed out himself. I see no logical conclusion other than to side with Sandberg on this one.

David Buchanan: This is similar to Brown, in that it is a guy without a leg on to stand on speaking up, but it’s not that big of a deal. Buchanan simply said he got caught off-guard getting pulled after five innings. Sandberg probably made the right move to pull him. I’m not exactly sure Buchanan was saying it was the wrong move, but just that he was caught off guard. I lean towards chalking this up as a young kid misspeaking and not meaning to show up his manager. He just used a less-than-ideal choice of words, as they were left open to be twisted.

Bottom line, however, is that when there is a track record of players disrespectful towards the manager, a case like this is just another one to add to the pile—especially when three other pitchers have been seemingly upset upon departing the game.

Cole Hamels: This is the strangest of all the cases. Hamels of course is a diva, as you likely recall, “I can’t wait for this season to end” and seemingly throwing at Bryce Harper out of jealousy.

Hamels was cruising through six innings Tuesday night, only to run into trouble in the seventh. In the eighth, he gave up a solo home run to the not-so-dangerous Asdrubal Cabrera and surrendered the lead. Tied at three, Sandberg lifted him for one of his two best relievers, Ken Giles. With three dangerous Nationals hitters up, Giles came in and struck out the side. Hamels after words indicated he was upset with Sandberg by not directly answering if he was upset that he was pulled.

What makes this one so bizarre is that Sandberg clearly made the right move, as you can’t argue with striking out the side. But Hamels’ comments came after the game, after he witnessed the feat by Giles himself. Yet, he did not endorse his manager by saying something along the lines of, “Well Ryno made the right call, as Giles got the job done.” Hamels is the ace of the staff, so he may feel a bit sensitive getting lifted after throwing less than 90 pitches.

Overall, the bottom line in all these cases is that no player seems to willing to back their manager. No one at any point has indicated that they are on board with what he is doing nor that they respect him. While it is tough to say they blantantly hate playing for him and he’s lost the team, the evidence shows that no one is quick to offer any type of support whatsoever. This is something to keep an eye on moving forward.

August 15, 2014

Ryne Sandberg, by all indications, is Ruben Amaro’s guy. Amaro hand-picked him years ago as one of the game’s more obvious heir apparents to the team’s most successful manager in franchise history, Charlie Manuel. Sandberg always seemed like an odd choice to bring to Philadelphia, as he never really was viewed as future managerial material, or at least one many predicted success at the helm. He even was passed over by the team he became a legend for, the Chicago Cubs, twice.

Despite that, Amaro must have saw something in the former Phillie. He kept him in the minor leagues for two years, and apparently the need to get him in position as Phillies manager was so urgent they had to fire Manuel on the day he was due to be celebrated. While we have no indication that Sandberg would have quit as third base coach and left the next day if he did not have the job, it highlighted the fact that he is Amaro’s guy even more.

As I’ve outlined each week this season, I have more complaints than praise about some of the decisions and moves Ryne Sandberg has made this season. But that does not matter because the opinion of only one man matters, and that is Ruben Amaro.

So, the question becomes, if Ruben Amaro was no longer his direct boss, would Sandberg remain as manager? Ken Rosenthal applied logic to the situation while entertaining the hypothetical that many fans have called for about a year now when he promoted Sandberg: Ruben Amaro is not back for 2015. As Rosenthal sees it, it is entirely plausible that a new man may walk into the job and not quite have the hots for Sandberg that Amaro has.

“Manager Ryne Sandberg, in the first year of a three-year contract, at times looks overmatched, struggling in his communications with veterans and with his in-game management.

Charlie Manuel was a player’s manager, and perhaps it was inevitable that his successor would encounter friction. Sandberg inherited an old, bad team, and might simply need more time to grow. But considering that a new GM eventually would want his own man, the removal of Amaro would not bode well for the manager.”

He adds an editorial twist into his report, saying he looks “overmatched”, but I do not think he is off-base in that critique. Sandberg at times has looked like he simply did not account for things like future moves, or falling asleep on specific moments like pitching to the 8-hole hitter and not the pitcher. And yes, his communication with veterans has not just been poor, but nonexistent would be an accurate way to classify it.

Perhaps the most fair and rationale way to look at the situation is to pretend for a moment one is a new general manager with a fresh slate and open eyes. When he is evaluating his managerial position, likely with a bias of wanting his own guy, as Rosenthal speculates, would Sandberg’s body of work be enough to save his job? Think back to the last time the Phillies switched general managers. The previous manager, Manuel, was of course coming off a World Championship, which made him untouchable in terms of Sandberg wanting his own guy. Sandberg eventually did get his own guy, but delayed it because Manuel was having success. Is there any success of Sandberg standing in the way of him being replaced?

It’s one thing for me to critique Sandberg in a weekly blog post. But I’m only one opinion of someone with only the power of purchasing or not purchasing a ticket. I can only indirectly react to the Phillies by doing business with their ticket sales office. It is more revealing of the job Sandberg has done and the opinion of him when an unbiased national observer like Rosenthal, who likely gathered this opinion by speaking to others, is rather unimpressed to say the least. It may be a bigger, more significant report on just what type of manager he is, unimpressive, than any of my weekly blog posts can say.

August 09, 2014

While the Phillies are in the portion of a losing season known as “playing out the string,” there are still plenty of little things to examine to size up Sandberg. It is a reminder this weekend, with Charlie Manuel being inducted into the Wall of Fame, that Sandberg of course essentially motivated management to fire Charlie Manuel on the day he was supposed to be honored. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s jump in it.

Pulling the ace in a pitchers’ duel: Sunday’s matchup of Cole Hamels and Stephen Strasburg was set up to be a fantastic pitchers’ duel. It’s a shame that it was cut short. Hamels was cruising, having only allowed the game’s only run—an unearned run. Strasburg was everything he was expected to be and the two were locked in a good one. However, Hamels came up to bat in the eighth with none on and one out, but Sandberg pulled him back for Reid Brignac. The move did not pay off and so the Phills had to tap into a bullpen that had pitched 13.2 innings over the previous three nights. That didn’t work, as the bullpen turned a workable 1-0 deficit into a rather hopeless 4-0 hole. Sandberg pulling Hamels for a weak hitter as a pinch hitter while he had thrown less than 90 pitches is not the worst move in baseball history, nor is it probably the worst move Sandberg has ever made. However, the fact of the matter is it proved to be the wrong move and simply did not work, taking away the chance for his club to win the game.

Extra innings: While yes, Sandberg has had plenty of practice in managing extra-inning affairs (the Phillies have played the most innings in baseball), that does not make it any easier. And while yes, things are a little easier when facing a bad American League team in a National League ballpark, Sandberg managed his bullpen masterfully in Tuesday’s 15-inning game. What makes the job he did Tuesday remarkable was it was a series of one-inning matchups, for the most part. With the exception of Antonio Bastardo’s night of two innings, Ryno used all seven of his relievers—all of whom prevented a run from scoring—for only an inning each. Bastardo was likely the exception because he struck out six of the seven batters he faced. This is notable, Sandberg’s pitching approach, because the traditional way to get through extra innings is to have a “long man” go eat up a bunch of innings (think Danys Baez in that classic 2011 game). So kudos to Ryne managing a great game—or nearly two games, really.

Left field: As many have pointed out, it is probably best for the Phillies if Dom Brown is playing everyday. Not to collect more information on him—nearly 1,500 plate appearances is no small sample size, but rather because they are of the belief that the best way for him to get better is by playing everyday. I’m of the belief that it wouldn’t be the worst thing to fix his swing playing everyday in the minors while evaluating Grady Sizemore, but that’s a separate issue. The takeaway here is that Sandberg, despite all hope being lost, is going for it this year apparently to the end.

There are a few ways to take this. Some may say that Ruben Amaro Jr. should intervene and advise Sandberg on what is best for the team’s long-term prognosis. On the flip side, perhaps him not saying anything is on board with the way Sandberg is managing. Another possible thing to keep an eye on is may Sandberg feels pressure to win every game possible for job security. This is worth monitoring in the event that Amaro is relieved following the season, and Sandberg would like to have sell the new general manager on keeping him as the manager. In any event, this is a developing story worth at least keeping an eye on if any further smoke emerges.

Big Piece: It’s become pretty clear that Sandberg was lying when he said it would be a platoon with Ryan Howard moving forward. After all Howard went 1-for-25 and somehow that led to him getting more playing time. Good, he was the biggest reason for the Phills’ latest sweep. But looking at the whole picture in terms of Sandberg’s actions, it is puzzling how he got from Point A and “needing to see Ruf”, benching him for three games and, in the eyes of some, disrespecting his slugger to Point B of playing him everyday now after a 1-for-25 slump. Either way, it led to a great series from the team’s highest-paid player.

August 01, 2014

Ryne Sandberg seems like his approach to managing is about as black and white as it gets. It is a very methodical, calculated view to his team and players. Struggle against left-handers? You will see the bench. Say “Who cares?” about your Spring Training stats, you see the bench. Lead the team in stolen bases and average? You bat lead-off. Even when he speaks, Sandberg seems to just be blurted out standard, generic response. “Well, we were one hit away, the big inning got us and we need more timely hitting. That mistake cost us.” Pick your favorite cliché as to why teams lose, I’m rather confident that if Sandberg has not uttered it once before, he will before the end of his tenure in the Phillies’ dugout.

Now, with that in mind, being so black and white, you’d certainly would think that he’d be one to embrace statistics and basic logic. If he embraced looking at some more advanced hitting, or ever baserunning metrics, it may point to some lineup changes.

Specifically, it may be beneficial for the Phills to move Cody Asche to the second spot of the lineup, or at least higher in the order. Asche is one of the more promising Phillies, Sandberg mentioned he likes his approach and what he has been doing at the plate lately, saying:

“He seems to be nice and aggressive right from the get-go at home plate, looking for a pitch to hit. Going up there to do something with the pitch," said Sandberg,”

Asche is looking for that right pitch to hit, Sandberg is right on that front. Even if he is surrendering himself to get out and advance the runner, Asche has displayed good bat control.

If Mr. Sandberg, the robot, as some have called him, were to look at the numbers and see what his personnel is, he may be inclined to make a lineup change. While hitting for the league average at thirdbase, Cody Asche has shown tremendous intelligence with the bat. Across the board, Asche is above the league average rates for advancing runners or having productive outs.

Check out how successful Asche is in moving runners this season, as only a 24-year-old:

It makes sense for Asche to bat in at least the top-five hitters. I’d personally recommend he bats second, behind either Revere or Rollins. But apparently Sandberg thinks its best to utilize his ability to advance runners in the six or seven hole, in front of one of the league’s worst hitters, Dom Brown.

The lineup has not produced very good results thus far this season, why not air on the side of logic and see what happens? He has nothing to lose.

Asleep at the wheel: One other minor thing I have against Sandberg is he sometimes seems asleep at the wheel. Sunday was the perfect example of that. Facing Arizona in the rubber game, the Diamondbacks had a man on second and two outs with their eight-hole hitter up. Their pitcher, Vidal Nuno, JUST ACQUIRED FROM THE AMERICAN LEAGUE, is not a big hitter to say the least. Despite that, Sandberg allowed his team, if not authorized it, to pitch to the regular eight-hole hitter, instead of the pitcher, and of course it led to a run being pushed across in a low-scoring affair. In what scenario did he think a RISP and regular hitter was a better matchup than facing the pitcher with two outs? It was , seemingly an example of the manager falling asleep in-game, as there was no tangible reason to prefer facing anyone in the lineup aside from Nuno. One out, and the pitcher was out of trouble.

July 25, 2014

My measuring stick for Ryne Sandberg this season is Charlie Manuel in his last two seasons in Philadelphia. Manuel apparently needed to be fired so urgently the team sent him packing on the day it was scheduled to hire him, sending the message they need to get Sandberg at the helm as soon as possible. Also, Sandberg is working with a better roster than Manuel was dealt, after all. Marlon Byrd and Cody Asche are better than the Youngs of 2013, A.J. Burnett has been immensely more effective than Roy Halladay last year and the bullpen is night and day better. Yet, the team is no better, and may be destined to lose more often than it did in 2013.

The biggest knock on Charlie Manuel was that he sat around and waited for the three-run home run too often. I have to ask, what is Sandberg doing differently in this department? The Phillies are getting worse by the year offensively, and home runs are getting less and less likely as Ryan Howard and Chase Utley continue to age. This should be an opportunity for Sandberg to try and get more creative and active in trying to push across runs.

On Sunday, after the Phillies had scored only eight runs over the previous three games, they had a chance to push an early run across. Playing in Atlanta as the road team, especially knowing Kyle Kendrick’s first inning troubles, trying to get an early run would not be the worst approach in the world. The opportunity seemingly presented itself when Grady Sizemore led off the game with a single. Sizemore, who possesses good speed, presented Sandberg with a number of options: steal, hit and run or advance on a bunt by Jimmy Rollins. No, rather than that he sat back and waited to see three consecutive non-productive outs. In other words, he waited not only for another runner to get on base, but then seemingly waited for the three-run home run. How is this improvement over Manuel’s approach to his club offensively?

On a related note, wouldn't keeping Manuel, the hitting guru, stand a better chance of helping Howard than Sandberg, a manager that has yet to show any evidence of substantial contributions. As Howard's salary indicates, he is viewed as a high priority and very valuable. Maybe Manuel would have given him more of a prayer.

Big Piece on the Bench: Ryne Sandberg is not a good communicator, that is one thing that has been made apparent over the last calendar year. Never mind that he doesn’t really provide too insightful responses, but the fact he seems to not be very good at communicating with his players. That was evident the way he benched Jimmy Rollins—without telling Jimmy Rollins.

A similar situation came up Wednesday which called for Ryan Howard to take a seat on the bench for a period of time. However, Sandberg seemingly learned his lesson from the way he failed (or more accurately, ignored) to speak to his player and at least had a sit-down meeting with Howard to explain what was going to take place moving forward. In a frustrating situation, we at least saw growth from the new skipper.

The Pitching Staff: Sandberg got his ace and Opening Day starter back on Monday when Cliff Lee returned from the 60-day D.L. Turns out his left arm did not join him, as he struggled to the tune of 12 hits off him. It was clear early on that Lee did not have his best stuff and was clearly rusty—something Sandberg acknowledged. Lee himself said the fact he only threw four first inning strikes was a sign of how rusty he was and that he did not have his usual ace stuff. Yet, Sandberg watched him get hit all around the park instead of going to his bullpen, a strength of the team. But no, Sandberg waited until Lee gave up a hit too many, allowing a sixth run on the night after a hit by Hunter Pence.

If that wasn’t enough pitching mistakes for one evening, Sandberg also got his white flag back off the D.L. recently too, in getting Jeff Manship back. For some reason, Sandberg likes to use Manship when the team is already losing to fall behind to an insurmountable deficit. That was the case on Monday, making the game get out of hand by inserting Manship into the game.

June 27, 2014

Well, the week (at least my week of “Sizing Up Sandberg”) started off nice for Ryne Sandberg. He had a few nice moves in the early innings of Saturday’s game—which he entered on a five-game winning streak. Although they ultimately lost Saturday, on execution (a misplaced Hamels pitch), not strategy, Sandberg finished what is probably his best stretch recently as manager.

One thing that really impressed me was he exercised common sense in Saturday’s game. I haven’t been his biggest supporter, and there are plenty of managers that I’d much prefer, but even they often neglect to do what Ryno did Saturday afternoon. With two men in scoring position and the eight-hole hitter up, Sandberg could have taken the traditional route and walked the eight hitter to get to the pitcher. Many teams do this, but not often consider the wrinkle Sandberg did. Standing on deck was Adam Wainwright, who happens to have a batting average more than 100 points higher than Mark Ellis. Sandberg did not have Cole Hamels issue an intentional walk, and Ellis was struck out to retire the side. It sounds easy, but you’d be surprised how often managers do not play the odds in their favor, probably a result of an oversight.

He saved his gambling with Hamels for the next frame, which often is not a good thing with the pitcher at the plate. You remember the “Go hit a sac fly, Kyle Kendrick plan”, or the “hit and run” with a guy that can’t hit (Freddy Galvis) and a guy that can’t run (Carlos Ruiz)? Well, he tried a hit and run with Cole Hamels at the dish, and if it wasn’t his lucky week, it was executed to perfection.

These two great moves were lost in a loss, but they still were moves of risk and reward. I hope to see more of those moving forward from the skipper.

Now, having praised him, there is an issue with the team that gets worse by the week and as far as I can tell, it is the first time he aggressively jumped on it. The problem is Dom Brown and the leftfield position, more specifically how he is absolutely killing the team. A.J. Burnett pitched his butt off on Wednesday, and if not for a Dom Brown brutal misplay (yes, yet another one), the Phills would have walked away with a win, and a series victory.

Well, apparently enough was enough for Sandberg. He not only benched Brown, but had an extended sit-down with the soon-to-be 27 year-old about the little things he needs to improve to at least be a sufficient major league player. It indicated he was losing patience (what took so long?!) and that he understands the urgency of the team needing to improve as soon as possible.

Finally, I do not understand why or how he can continue to go back to putting Ben Revere at the top of the lineup. It really doesn’t make any sense. He can’t walk, is impatient and frankly isn’t an everyday ball player. Get this: among National League players, no one has a worse on base percentage leading off the game than Revere, minimum 30 plate appearances. Why, Ryno—why?

June 20, 2014

The Fightin’ Phills are playing their best baseball of the season, having their first four-game winning streak in over a calendar year. They’ve also won eight of their last ten games, with the last four coming against division rival Atlanta and the reigning National League champs, St. Louis. I’ve scratched my head at a lot of Ryne Sandberg’s moves this season, but this week the club has been great.

Sandberg seemingly had the magic touch this week in that every move went correct. Starting with Monday’s marathon game against Atlanta, things looked bleak when Dom Brown had…well, I’m not sure how to describe what he did…but anyway, with a man on third and the heart of the Braves lineup due up, things weren’t looking good. Using a timely intentional walk and trusting Justin DeFratus, the Phills got out of the jam and eventually started a four-game winning streak. The move may have seemed obvious, or “by the book”, but I’ll give Sandberg praise for not panicking with an ineffective reliever. The gamble was rewarded.

In the following two games, Sandberg gave timely days off to Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. Subbed in for each of them was Cesar Hernandez, who only went 5-for-10 at the plate, including getting on base three times out of the lead-off hole. He got the game and hit parade going atop the order Wednesday, including scoring the game’s first run.

All in all, Sandberg had a great series.

Thursday’s big four-game in St. Louis got off to a great start as well. In a few starts, I praised Sandberg for pulling David Buchanan early, as I thought he grabbed him before any potential damage could be incurred. On Thursday, he wrote him for quite some time and was also rewarded. The young right-hander turned in 7 2/3 innings of great ball, limiting one of the National League’s best lineups.

Ejection: Replay has limited the great manager-umpire argument. Ryne Sandberg had an ejection earlier this month, but I thought it was rather silly as he was yelling at the wrong guy, attacking the messenger. But his argument Friday night was great—going at it with a rookie umpire that clearly was incorrect in assuming Roberto Hernandez intentionally threw at his friend Starlin Castro. It was a great performance by Sandberg, but most importantly, it was nice to see he had a pulse.

June 06, 2014

We’ve taken a look at Ryne Sandberg each week in this “Sizing Up Sandberg” column. Some good moves, like plucking John Mayberry off the bench at just the right time, or expecting Kyle Kendrick to hit a sacrifice fly, were legitimate moves that could be praised or ripped. This week, the team was just so bad that there was a small pool of moves to even consider.

However, there is more of theme that Sandberg can be measured up against. The Phillies looked lifeless and had countless mistakes across the board from players and coaches.

You know things are bad when Chase Utley is making mistakes all over the bases and in the field. Cole Hamels, a veteran, failed to cover first base. Pete Mackanin was coaching thirdbase as poorly as, well, Ryne Sandberg. And yet some players seemingly remained satisfied with what was going on. Ben Revere hit a solo home run trailing by three and acted like he hit a go-ahead home run in a World Series game. Larry Bowa ripped Dom Brown’s seemingly care-free attitude about struggling.

With that being the case, you have to wonder about the accountability. Brown didn’t hustle and didn’t lose a second of playing time. Revere made a bone-head mistake not tagging up and was promoted up the lineup the next day. I can’t speculate what happens behind closed doors, but I can only comment on what I see and I see no one being held accountable.

Sandberg did hold a team meeting Tuesday in Washington. Those are the types of things that are either turning points, as it was when Charlie Manuel held one in 2010 and the team erupted for a 27-8 finish.

Now, it would be unfair for me to fault Sandberg for having a poor meeting after the team did not respond and were swept in Washington. But whatever he said did not turn things around, that much is clear. Looking ahead, one can only wonder what other tricks Sandberg has up his sleeve to save the season as it is quickly going down the drain.